On the evening of December 11, 2016, 16-year-old Janet Francois was shot and killed in Miami Gardens, Florida. She was sitting in a car with 28-year-old Oliver Portieles when an unknown assailant approached and opened fire around 8:30 PM near NW 38th Avenue and 206th Street. The driver tried to flee but lost control; the vehicle struck a mailbox and two parked cars. Both Janet and Portieles were pronounced dead at the scene. An officer nearby heard the gunfire and responded, but the shooter had already fled.

Janet’s family described her as a typical teenager who loved to look cute and do her hair; they say she had saved her mother during a robbery three days before the shooting. Miami Gardens police are asking anyone with information to contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers; a reward is being offered for tips leading to an arrest.

Did anyone in the community see or hear anything that night that could help bring Janet’s killer to justice?